


Breathe

by LuthienLuinwe



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Asphyxiation, Grief, M/M, Self-Sacrifice, comforting the dying, no happy ending, suffocation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:15:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25940473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuthienLuinwe/pseuds/LuthienLuinwe
Summary: Dick’s head lolled to the side, against the glass barrier. His eyes drifted up to meet Jason’s. “I’m scared, Jay,” he spoke, voice barely above a whisper. Even through the partition, Jason could see him struggling to breathe. “Help me not be scared.”
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Comments: 30
Kudos: 164
Collections: JayDick Summer Exchange 2020





	Breathe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [byeke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/byeke/gifts).



> For the prompt: Remember in Star Trek (2009 film) when Kirk gets trapped in a room and is slowly suffocating? Jason and Dick are on a mission together and the villain traps one of them (your choice who) in a room and the other can only watch from the other side as they slowly suffocate. Your choice if the trapped one dies or not
> 
> Thanks to bionerd2.0 for the beta!

“Shit,” Jason muttered, glancing over his shoulder as he ran. Things had gone from bad to horrible in a matter of seconds, and the only thing he knew for sure was that he and Dick needed to get out of there  _ yesterday.  _

Because Scarecrow had laid a trap and they’d fallen right into it. Bruce had told them to wait and Jason had told him where he could shove his suggestion, and now here they were and it was all his fault.

At least his helmet would filter most of it out.

Dick?

Dick was screwed.

At least Dick was faster than Jason, a solid meter ahead.

The pretty boy would probably make it out fine, Jason would get hit with some residual gas and have a really terrible night, but it would all end up fine.

Scarecrow was bad, sure, but they’d dealt with a hell of a lot worse.

“Hood, don’t,” Dick shouted over his shoulder, and Jason shot him a confused gesture. He kept running, only to run straight into a plexiglass wall.

It would have been funny in any other situation.

A bird running into a wall?

Priceless, right?

His eyes went wide and his stomach twisted.

Dick stared at him from the other side of the partition, hand on a button by the archway. “I’m sorry,” he breathed, just as Jason banged a fist on the glass with a shouted ‘what the hell?!’

“We were set up,” Dick spoke, and Jason frowned underneath his helmet, tilting his head back to look behind him.

Because the gas should have caught up to them by now.

He was an idiot. An absolute idiot.

Because at the end of the day? Crane was a scientist. This was his lab maze. And Dick and Jason?

They were the unlucky rats that had been hand picked for the experiment.

“Jay?” Dick asked, voice rising more than a few pitches. 

Jason frowned and turned back to face him. Dick knew better than to blow cover. It was rule number one. Few things needed more protection than an identity did. Sometimes? At the end of the day? It was all they had left. “What’s up, Wing?”

“I can’t breathe.”

Jason felt his heart drop into his stomach. Panicked laughter bubbled up in his chest, threatening escape. 

Because this hadn't been some random Scarecrow attack.

It had been planned.

Every rational part of his brain screamed at him to keep the helmet on. That if the gas started filtering in again, he’d be fucked if he didn’t, and neither of them needed that. Not when they’d essentially hit a dead end. “Dick, hit the button.”

Dick shook his head and glanced back at the dead end behind him.

They’d been herded here.

“Dick, hit the fucking button!” Jason shouted, hitting the catch on his helmet and tossing it to the side, banging on the glass a time or two for good measure.

Dick shook his head again. Jason watched as his breathing pattern changed, becoming more rapid. Panicked.

Jason stood, watching helpless as Dick slunk down to the ground, body resting against the glass barrier. He needed to get him out of there. Find a way to stop whatever was happening and get him out because he was going to die and Jason was going to be alone and have to look Bruce in the eye and tell him what had happened and that he’d done  _ nothing. _

He watched as Dick gasped for air, and banged at the bulletproof glass again. It had to be able to break. He had to get Dick out of there. 

He had to. 

“Jay?” Dick asked, voice so soft Jason wasn’t sure he heard it. 

He glanced down at the man, trying to keep his expression calm. The last thing Dick needed right now was for Jason to panic. “Right here, Dickiebird.”

“Don’t go.”

“Not going anywhere,” Jason promised, sliding down to the ground to sit next to Dick. There had to be a way out of this mess. 

But, Jason knew, it was possible to do everything right and still lose. 

Dick’s head lolled to the side, against the glass barrier. His eyes drifted up to meet Jason’s. “I’m scared, Jay,” he spoke, voice barely above a whisper. Even through the partition, Jason could see him struggling to breathe. “Help me not be scared.”

Jason shut his eyes tightly and took a breath before opening them again. 

He pressed his hand against the glass, watching as Dick struggled to move to do the same. 

“It’s ain’t bad, Goldie,” he said, fighting to keep his voice from breaking. “Close your eyes and it’s done. Like going to sleep.” 

Dick nodded slowly, gaze becoming more and more unfocused by the second. “Like going to sleep,” he repeated. 

A lump caught in Jason’s throat when Dick gasped at the end of that sentence, body fighting for air that wasn’t there.

“It’s okay, Goldie,” Jason whispered, moving so his head was pressed against the glass, wishing he could break it down and save Dick. Wishing he could just hold him as he passed. 

No one deserved to die alone, least of all Dick Grayson. 

His heart twisted in his chest, stomach churning with emotions he couldn’t process, not right then. 

“I love you,” Jason whispered, so quietly he wasn’t sure Dick had heard it at all. 

“I know.”

Silence passed between them, and for a moment, Jason forgot. Forgot that he needed to keep Dick talking. Forgot that silence couldn’t mean anything good in this situation. “Dick?” His eyes went wide, and he looked over at the other man, slumped against the glass, head rested against it. Not moving… “Dick?” he asked more frantically. He would have shaken Dick if he could have…

No answer.

“Dick?” Jason called again, voice fragile, broken. Because Dick wasn’t dead. Couldn’t be dead. But he wasn’t moving, and his chest was still, and Jason wanted to break down the wall and check for a pulse but he couldn’t and there was nothing worse than sitting there, doing nothing.

Couldn’t move, couldn’t leave.

Couldn’t leave Dick there.

He shut his eyes tightly, fighting back the wave of panic and grief that threatened to consume him.

Dick would want him to get out safely.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered softly, tears welling up behind his eye, even though he knew Dick couldn’t hear him. Not anymore.

He got to his feet, and moved back into the maze.


End file.
